Trying to play the Featherstone way
Last month
I had a lot of success playing Stargrunt II and I think they will be a staple
of my squad and platoon size games, but I am also looking for something a
little more personalised. A set of rules
that will make me feel an attachment for the individual characters in the
game. To that end, I thought I would
give Donald Featherstone`s Skirmish Wargaming a try.
Donald
Featherstone`s Skirmish Wargaming was first published in 1975, I do not have
one of those venerable tomes, as I was only one when it was published. Instead, I have a modern reprint from John Curry`s
History of Wargaming Project. The book
contains a straightforward set of rules that are then modified to give a period
feel. At its core the rules are a percentile
system with some cross referencing on various tables. The only change that I had to make to the
rules was to replace the written orders with alternate activation for
movement. The change was necessitated because
I primary play solo and the thought of writing orders for two different sides
didn`t fill me with joy.
Scenario
The 2008 reprint includes both a fantasy and SCI-FI scenario, something that was not in the original book. As the Cantwara sector is firmly rooted in the SCI-FI genre I thought that I would try the Mining Station Sigma 9 scenario. In this scenario, the starship Hibernia has been shot down and the surviving crew and passengers must search the mining station for a radio to call for help before they are overrun by the resident aliens.
Table layout
The
scenario as written in the book required a more moon like table layout, but I
don`t really have any of that sort of terrain, so I have made some adjustments
to utilise the pieces that I have.
Deployment
To
determine the landing sites of the passengers and crew of the Hibernia I decided
to turn to Donald Featherstone`s mechanism for parachute drops from his book
Airborne Operations. I took twelve small,
numbered pieces of paper put them in a box and scattered them over the board.
Game narrative
After the
impact of the landing the crew of the Hibernia soon released themselves from
their pods and headed towards the mining outpost.
As the crew
searched the buildings ominous sounds were carried on the wind and it wasn`t
long before large shapes burst out of the undergrowth. Captain Haggerstrand saw the creatures
first. Shouting a word of warning he opened
fired with his laser pistol. The
superheated ray burning holes in the creatures as they approached.
The
captain`s warning came too late for senior administrator George Long. He ran as fast as he could, his breath coming
in deep pants, but the creatures were just too fast.
The crew
scrambled around the outpost looking for anything to defend themselves with and
the radio that could lead to their salvation as the number of aliens
increased. Isolated acts of bravery
helped to buy time for the rest of the crew to send out the distress call.
The droid CM2-CGN
blocked the path of a group of aliens his old joints creaking as he moved
forward. He tried to fend off two of the
creatures with his ungainly limbs, but his chassis was not designed for hand-to-hand
combat. The aliens tore him apart.
Miss Smith
the accountant realised that she couldn`t outrun the group of creatures that
was chasing her, so she turned to face the creatures. Like a Valkyrie she fought the creatures and managed
to hold them off for a short while before they ripped her apart.
Chief Engineer
Smith smashed the skull of an alien with her wrench and forced her way into the
shack. Inside she found the radio set
and quickly sent out a distress signal.
Would the passengers and crew be able to hold out until the rescuers
arrived?
The alien
numbers just kept on increasing as the stranded survivors looked to the sky for
salvation. A distant sound of engines coming to their ears.
Engineer 1st
class Fletcher, and CM2-CDN scrambled into a security van. Inside they found two laser rifles still intact. The pair opened fire on the aliens with their
lethal weapons. The lasers cut their way
through the inhuman creatures.
The aliens rampaged through the outpost looking for the few survivors that were left. Knowing that he was all that stood between the aliens and two passengers. Lieutenant Baker stood his ground firing his laser pistol repeatedly until it finally drained its charge, and the aliens overwhelmed him.
The laser
fire coming from the security van soon attracted the attention of the aliens. CM2-CDN and Fletcher kept up their fire as
the number of alien corpses around them increased but their efforts soon
drained the power packs of their rifles, and they were reduced to using them as
clubs.
The roar of the gun cutter`s engines and the staccato sound of its autocannons soon scattered the aliens. The survivors breathed a sigh of relief and turned their attention to the wounded.
Crew:
Captain
Haggerstrand – Grievously injured
Lieutenant
Baker – Killed
Chief Engineer
Smith – Unhurt
Engineer 1st
class Fletcher – Seriously injured
Droid
CM1-CPA – Destroyed
Droid
CM2-CDN - Seriously damage
Droid
CM2-CGN – Destroyed
Passengers:
Miss Smith,
accountant – Killed
Thorne,
mining engineer – Unhurt
Valentine, miner
– Grievously injured
Mr. George
Long, senior administrator – Killed
Mrs. Long, wife and secretary of George Long – Unhurt
Final thoughts
I really enjoyed
the game; the rules themselves are quite straightforward but there were some
gaps in the rules that need to be filled in.
I found that it was very hard to kill people in the rules. I think the highest chance of a kill was 8%,
which seemed a little low when someone was surrounded by six enemies and
seriously injured. I may try some other percentile
rule systems, perhaps Laserburn or Inquisitor before I fiddle too much with
Donald Featherstone`s rules. I will
definitely play them again as they are a solid set of rules that only need a
few tweaks.
